An Example of Literary Reuse in Scripture
Joel 2:22 and Genesis 1:11
In Joel, the people have experienced a devasting locust plague (1:1–20) and their situation is getting worse because a devasting army is approaching (2:1–11). The people then turn to YHWH in a plea of repentance (2:12–17). YHWH hears the prayer of his people and relents from sending the army and promises a restoration of the land devasted by the locusts (2:18–27).
The book of Joel contains a historical and an eschatological devastation (a Day of the Lord) and restoration. For example, the restoration in 2:18–27 is followed by 3:1–5 which speaks of the future restoration that will occur afterwards (וְהָיָה אַחֲרֵי־כֵן). And the historical devastation and restoration establishes a literary pattern within the book of Joel from which the greater eschatological devastation and restoration builds upon. In other words, the final Day of the Lord will be like the earlier Day of the Lord, but much greater. And the final restoration after the Day of the Lord will be like the first restoration but much greater.
Joel 2:22, occurring in the section of YHWH’s promised restoration (2:18–27) contains a verb that has only occurred once before in all of Scripture, דשׁא, which means “to sprout.” Previously this verb has only occurred in Genesis 1:11 which recounts day three of creation when YHWH separated the dry land from the sea.
The choice of words by an author is intentional. The choice of a rare verb and likely an archaic verb that occurs in Genesis and nowhere else warrants further interpretation. Moreover, the verb appears to be a special/technical verb to refer to the work God on creation. The Akkadian cognate verb dešû occurs in the Babylonian creation account Enuma Eliš indicating that even the cognate was understood in relation to creation.1 The LXX also translates דשׁא in both Genesis 1:11 and Joel 2:22 with βλαστάνω, also a rare verb.2
At the very least, it appears that Joel is seeking to say that the future restoration of YHWH will be like creation, that is, it will be a new creation. Prinsloo writes regarding Joel 2:22–23 that “Joel uses similar terminology (cf. Gen 1 11; 1 29; 1 24ff) and the same sequence (earth, beasts, man) as Gen 1. As a result, Yahweh’s redemptive work in this pericope is depicted as a new act of creation”3 and Barker concurs stating that by “employing a verb associated with the creation narrative, Joel hints at the prospect of paradise restored.”4
We are very explicit in our culture and in our theological writings. We would write a commentary and explain over pages how the restoration of YHWH will be like a new creation. But this is not how the biblical authors write. They are far more subtle and require much more attention to their words to pick up on their theology. However, subtle or not, the claim is still the same by the author of Joel that YHWH’s restoration will be a new creation by use of the verb דשׁא from Genesis 1:11.
Reading Scripture, we ought to read slowly, and pay attention to every word to see if we can pick up on the theology of an author through their use of words from previous contexts.
*image by John Martin The End of the World
DCH, s.v. דשׁא. BDB and HALOT both list דשׁא as cognate with Akkadian dešû. Ben Yosef Tawil notes dešû as attested from the Old Babylonian period onward. Hayim ben Yosef Tawil, An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents with Supplement of Biblical Aramaic (Brooklyn, NY: KTAV, 2017), s.v. dešû.
βλαστάνω occurs nine times in the LXX, seven of which occur in the protestant canon. Johan Lust, Erik Eynikel, and Katrin Hauspie, eds., Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2003), s.v. βλαστάνω. Hatch and Redpath list βλαστάνω as occurring ten times in the protestant canon and twice elsewhere in the LXX. Edwin Hatch and Henry Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (Including the Apocryphal Books) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987) ), s.v. βλαστάνω. Muraoka, following Hatch and Redpath’s count, notes that elsewhere βλαστάνω translates גמל once, פרה once, פרח once, צוץ once, צמח four times. Takamitsu Muraoka, A Greek-Hebrew/Aramaic Two-way Index to the Septuagint (Leuven: Peeters, 2010), 22.
Prinsloo, Theology of Joel, 72.
Barker, Joel, 124.